This research service provides an analysis of ICT spend by the retail sector in South Africa. The objective of the study is to contextualize ICT investment within the sector across 7 categories: cellular connectivity, cloud services, data centres, fixed and non-cellular connectivity, IT hardware, managed services, and systems integration. The analysis includes an overview of the retail sector, drivers and restraints, and technology trends driving investment in ICT, highlighting both the current and future spend from 2015 to 2019. The base year for analysis is 2014.

Key Findings

•The technological developments of the past two decades, notably the growth of the Internet and the rapid adoption of mobile phones, have transformed the world. •The information and communication technologies (ICT) sector has become increasingly influential across multiple facets of society, affecting the way consumers spend their time, access information, and, ultimately, pay for goods and services. •In Africa, the traditional model of retail involving face-to-face interactions between individuals negotiating the terms of trade is still pervasive in informal markets. However, as ICT access continues to grow, retail models will have to adapt to a changing environment. •Changes in the retail sector are being driven both by retail companies themselves as they seek to take advantage of new technologies, and by ICT providers as they look to improve their service offerings to retailers and expand their own value-added services. •ICT spend in the South African retail sector is expected to grow from $ xx million in 2014 to $ xx million in 2019 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of xx %.

Research Overview

•Technological advances and the promotion of connectivity by various stakeholders in South Africa have combined to produce a market that is extremely attractive to a range of ICT providers. •Changing market dynamics have also pushed ICT providers to expand their product and service offerings away from basic connectivity, voice, and messaging revenues. •In order to compete effectively, ICT service providers need to improve their understanding of particular industries and their specific ICT requirements over time. •This evolution in strategy requires improved understanding of industry dynamics in order to better understand the impact of ICT developments on customer needs, particularly adoption trends. •This document outlines Frost & Sullivan’s syndicated research findings on ICT spend and emerging trends in the South African retail sector.

The concept of cross-border e-commerce can interpreted in a broad or narrow sense: Broadly, the cross-border e-commerce refers to the cross-border import and export trade activities in which the transactions ...